I'm not sure exactly how to title this but I'm curious if anyone has a resource to find different game records in a sortable-by-length format. Not many runs within a single game, but record runs in many different games in a sortable format. I'm somebody who doesn't love games that are super short to run. For me, 1-2 hours per run is great. The problem is that I don't know how long runs are for all my favorite games that I might want to try and looking through each game page is slow and often fruitless. If I found a list of all games record time and just scrolled to the ones from 1-2 hours I could quickly find games that seem interesting on the list.

A list like this could help as a resource for people (myself at this time) find games at their ideal length. I'm willing to put forth the work to do this, but I was wondering if it existed anywhere already.

That advice makes perfect sense, and I really appreciate the candidness. I acknowledge that my enjoyment comes from a wide variety of games, which itself is a problem since speedrunning requires you specifically NOT play a wide variety of games and focus on one at a time for a very long time.

The point about not considering audience is definitely heard and I already try not to think of them when coming up with content, though again, it's nice to have viewers while streaming. So there's a give-and-take there. I also agree that one of the other issues I've found when researching is how many games there are and just a desire to play all of them yet knowing, again, that could only be done with hundreds of hours in each one. So I've definitely been overwhelmed when coming up with a game/series to start with.

I like the idea of just jumping into one, but I also know that that itself will likely require a decent amount of research. Years ago I learned the first two gyms of Crystal and that alone was already like 10+ hours of work just to memorize the IVs to look for and the level up stats, which are things that are required to even make a run possible. This morning, I also looked up some of the WR pokemon times and I think they're a little outside my desired time frame for right now.

I'm surprised the Fire Emblem games are as short as they are, given the linearity, but still on the outer edge of what I'd love to grind. Zelda games have shorter categories, which seems appealing. Could also be nice to get an SNES for this for some older games which all seem super fun to run, but I don't currently own one, and might as well learn a game on a platform I already have. So let's eliminate that for the starter option.

Recently, I've definitely been focusing most of my time on RPGs, playing through Octopath Traveler casually and loving it (but not sure I'd do a run of it, since I'm barely halfway through so who knows how I'll feel at the end). So I think that's the right place to start. Paper Mario is a gem from my childhood that I haven't played in awhile, so I don't have any burnout to start with, but the games are also long...

I guess I'm using this post as a idea-generation, bouncing board to just solidify what I want, and I appreciate you helping me narrow that down. It's been invaluable!

I've been trying to do some research. I have seen some pokemon speedruns and seen how they manipulate RNG, it's super wild. Still, given that I've put over 10,000 hours into the series learning the competitive scene, it's probably best if I don't risk burnout of that series specifically. Then again, the audience I have already enjoys Pokemon and I enjoy Pokemon so I'm not sure if that actually is the lowest barrier to entry. Is having put so much time that you often watch people around you in the community burnout a good thing for knowing it's a game you could stick with for runs or a bad thing because you're potentially at risk for burnout yourself more quickly?

I own every NTSC Nintendo console since N64, and PS1 and 2. Additionally, I have a (probably not sufficient) converter from RCA to HDMI that I've used for streaming casually before. I also have Steam.

I've played many RPGs like the Paper Mario and Zelda series, as well as more heavily strategy focused games like Fire Emblem. I also enjoy platformers, but certainly don't have the natural talent for them off the bat. Recently, I've been watching mostly Mario runs, primarily Odyssey and Sunshine, which have been super cool and seem really interesting, but I'm not sure are the games I would initially want to dive into speedrunning with.

If this helps give any advice toward a game, I'd be open to it!

Hello! I'm actually not sure if I'm "new" in the sense that I apparently made this account some time ago, but I'm definitely newly finding a motivation to actually start running games. I've wanted to for awhile, and now have the income and, with finals ending, the time, to really delve into it.

And perhaps unsurprisingly, I feel entirely overwhelmed. I love watching runs and I've been streaming since 2016 so I know I can do it and I already have some of the equipment. I mostly have been a competitive Pokemon player, so I also know memorization of tricks, timings, and runs won't be too difficult (memorizing metas in 3 different generations of pokemon trains your mind in what I imagine is a similar way).

The thing about speedrunning, though, is that I don't know how to mod hardware, and I certainly have nothing non-US for hardware or software right now. I don't have a CRT tv or anything...the more I look the more shocked I am that people run games at all!

So...where do I start? How do I find myself playing a game for hundreds of hours instead of staring at movepools for hundreds of hours? I like strategy games and RPGs, but don't want a run that's 100% menu optimization (love you, Fire Emblem, but that's a commitment) or overly RNG-laden (looking at you Pokemon). Is there something people recommend that can be played at a high level on an English version and isn't overly long? I'm fine with the idea of 1-2 hour runs, longer seems like something for down the road.

Anyway, any guidance is appreciated! I just need a little direction to get my feet wet and I'll go from there!